Health Information & Informatics Management
 

After the past 6 months of truly hating my job, and another 3 months of absolutely no luck finding a new job (or any actual prospects for that matter), I'm seriously entertaining the idea of heading back to school. I've been toying with it for the past year to year and a half anyhow, and so now may be the time to really buckle down and decide what I want to do.

I've narrowed my choices down to either going back for a Masters of Art in Teaching (teaching elementary or special ed. eventually), or going back to get my Bachelors in Health Information/Informatics Management (and following up with a Masters in the same).

I know tons of teachers, so, my question is... is anyone around here in the HIIM field? My mom has been in the field for over 25 years and so she's got alot of info. for me, but I need outside perspective as well. So, I'm open to anything and everything! What do you like and dislike about it? Is it worth my time and effort? Did you enjoy the program you were in? (I would be looking at the HIIM program through UT-Memphis (Health Science Center)... a one year full time program, after I get about 4 pre-req. classes).

Thanks!

I work with a lot of RHITs in a research department for a large health care system. I can tell you that some of the plusses for them is that it's easy to find "work from home" kinds of jobs. Health care is one of the few "industries" that is still growing and will continue to grow as the baby boomers approach senior citizen status. With more and more health care agencies going to all electronic records, expect to spend a lot of time looking at a computer screen! Our abstractors (RHITs) are always really busy so their jobs are quite secure. They have the most flexibility of any position in our department because of the ability to do most of their work from home, on off hours, etc.

Not only that, but the Global Public Health is requesting informatics people for Health Ministries from less developed countries. Apparently, the Health Ministries pay all kinds of money... No one will be cured of everything in life. And there will always be newer or different illnesses. Besides boomers with impact the health system in ~5 years or less and by 2025 there will be no Social Security...

Why go for the 2nd Bachelors? and just obtain a Master's in the subject? Or is it required that you have a Bachelors?

Well, I could go for the Master's if I had my first bachelor's in a health related field. But, Communications is gonna cut it (even if I do some pre-req classes... I've already checked with the department). Also, the Master's program is all online, so once I have a bachelor's I could go ahead and start working in the field while I work on my Master's.